Situation levels

A situation level is a saved arrangement of the entire scene: every element on every view, where it sits, how big it is, and all of its settings. Applying a level during a drill snaps the scene to that arrangement in one action.

Use levels for changes too big to make by hand while a drill is running: fire through the roof, a collapse, a victim removed, conditions after a successful knockdown.

Creating a level#

Arrange the scene the way the level should look. Move, add, remove, and resize elements across whichever views are involved.
Open the Levels tab.
Name the level for the condition it represents, for example Roof involvement or Primary all clear, and save it.
Put the scene back the way the drill should start.

That last step matters. The builder scene is the starting condition; levels are alternatives to it.

Updating a level#

Select the level, arrange the scene the way it should now look, and press ↻ to overwrite the saved arrangement.

Applying a level#

Levels are applied during a drill, not in the builder, in two ways:

The instructor applies one directly from the drill's inject panel.
An inject linked to that level applies it, either manually or on a schedule.

Either way the change is recorded, so the after-action review shows when the scene changed and to what.

What the crew sees#

Level names are for the instructor. When a level is applied during a drill, participants are told nothing: not the name you gave it, and not that a level was applied at all. They read the change the way they would on a real fireground, from the conditions in front of them. The names come back for everyone in the after-action review.

The names come back for everyone in the after-action review once the drill has ended, so the debrief can talk about Roof involvement by name and show when it fired.

This means you can name levels plainly for your own use, including names that would give the game away, without tipping the crew mid-drill.

Weather rides with levels (wildland)#

When the Wildland size-up module is on and the scenario has weather set, capturing a level also captures the weather. Firing that level changes the wind, temperature, and humidity for everyone the moment the scene changes: a wind shift is authored as a level, which is exactly how the classic tragedy-fire scenario is built. Levels captured without weather leave the current weather alone.

What a level captures#

A level stores the complete element arrangement of every view: positions, sizes, and all settings. Applying it replaces the current arrangement.

Scenarios built before this format existed may contain older levels that store only element settings, not positions or added and removed elements. These are marked in the builder and still work, but they only patch settings on elements that already exist. To convert one, arrange the scene as it should look and press ↻, which saves it in the full format.

Practical notes#

Name levels for the condition, not the sequence. Roof involvement survives a scenario edit; Level 2 does not.
Two or three levels is usually enough. Levels are for structural changes to the scene, not for small adjustments the instructor can make by hand mid-drill.
A level can also walk conditions backward, for example returning the scene to light smoke after a successful attack.